Remembering Mandalore
by Onimiman
Summary: After the Moff Council poisons Mandalore's atmosphere, preventing anyone with Mirta Gev's DNA from entering without dying, Kad'ika Skirata has a plan; ties in with Acquiescence.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars: On the Aay'han: Remembering Mandalore

This story has the remnants of Clan Skirata leaving their home world of Mandalore in 41 ABY, just after the Imperial Remnant had unleashed the Fett nanovirus into the planet's atmosphere. The remaining members are Venku "Kad'ika" Skirata, Gotab (a.k.a. Bardan Jusik), Jaing Skirata, Kom'rk Skirata, and Lord Mirdalin. Rated K for all audiences.

Chapter 1

Kad'ika, real name Venku Skirata, stared out toward space as he sat in the pilot's seat of the _Aay'han_. He had been quiet and solemn for the past few minutes, as his adoptive father Gotab, real name Bardan Jusik, had noted from the copilot's seat. Gotab empathized with the younger man, as the world of Mandalore, the planet they were staring at in the _Aay'han_'s cockpit, had been home to them for many years now.

Now it had become too dangerous for Kad'ika to go through its atmosphere ever again. That had been thanks to the works of the Imperial Remnant, led by the late tyrannical dictator of the Galactic Alliance, Darth Caedus. Caedus and the Imperial Moffs managed to concoct a nanovirus based on Mirta Gev's blood, and the nanovirus, which was then deployed all throughout Mandalore's atmosphere, would target anyone who had ever shared Gev's DNA, such as her father, Boba Fett.

Fett, of course, was among the last few clones created by the Kaminoans based on the long-dead Jango Fett's DNA. Kad'ika wasn't exactly one of Jango's clones, but his father was. And thus, he was as susceptible to this nanovirus as much as the Fett family were, and, as mentioned, every remaining Fett clone left in the galaxy.

"It's time to go now, Kad'ika," Gotab said gently to his adoptive son. "_Oya_."

Kad'ika finally managed to tear his eyes away from his beloved home planet and stare at Gotab. "_Oya_," he nodded. It was the Mandalorian saying for, _Let's hunt_, or, _Let's roll_. Obviously, it was time to go now. If Kad'ika didn't leave now, leave behind all the cherished memories of this planet, he would never go.

_And that's not very becoming of a good Mando_, Gotab thought. Mandalorians were a nomadic people, who traveled from place to place, like planets and/or habitable moons like Yavin 4–before those damned Yuuzhan Vong took it over and remade it to their twisted standards. Mandalorians weren't supposed to be attached to any one place for any great length of time; not even their own home world.

For a moment there, he thought back to his former life as Jedi Knight and General of the Clone Wars, Bardan Jusik. For so long, in the early years of his life, he had been raised and had grown under the tutelage and dogma of the previous Jedi Order, which taught of non-attachment; if you got too attached to something, or someone, you could lose yourself in the dark side of the Force.

Jusik had left and become an official Mandalorian because of this. He had left because he could no longer lead good men to their deaths in the midst of battle under the pretense of saving a corrupt and decadent government like the Old Republic. A lot good that did, Gotab thought, to all the other Jedi who fought in the Clone Wars who believed that sending enslaved men to certain doom had been morally sound and not unbecoming of a dark sider.

A fellow Knight of his, Etain Tur-Mukan, had become romantically involved and eventually married to a clone Commando named Darman just before she died. Ironically, Etain died not under the hand of a clone trooper by the time of Order 66, but by the lightsaber of a fellow Jedi.

To this day, Gotab had always wished that all of the Jedi in the galaxy perished in the Great Purge under Emperor Palpatine's rule because of what happened to Etain. It wasn't enough that they had been hunted nearly to extinction; considering that with just a few Jedi left, they had returned, and were now as powerful as ever. While Gotab did see it a more positive thing that the rule on non-attachment had been lifted under Luke Skywalker's rule, it still wasn't enough to him. It would never be enough.

Now as a Mandalorian, Jusik, renaming himself Gotab, lived by his society's standards with every breath of his being. He had accepted them without hesitation as not only a choice or lifestyle, but as a _fact_. And yet, even though the ideologies between the Jedi and the Mandalorians couldn't be anymore different, there was a note of non-attachment, Gotab realized. Just as the Jedi of old demanded non-attachment to people, Mandalorians have always ruled non-attachment to places.

_Have I traded one non-attachment culture for another?_ Gotab thought. _Yes, I have. Except this culture allows love for people, not a restrained respect_.

And so Kad'ika took hold of the _Aay'han_'s control stick and veered the ship away from Mandalore. He then input the coordinates for the _Aay'han_'s jump into hyperspace, and in a few moments, the bright, distant pinpricks of life in the distance of space immediately lengthened into thick blue lights that surrounded the ship. In no time, the vessel was gone.

The _Aay'han_. What an appropriate name for this ship, Gotab thought. The late Kal Skirata, who had become his adoptive father after the Clone Wars ended, had named this ship after the _Mando'a_ meaning for a bittersweet moment of mourning or joy. To Gotab, as he looked back upon the memories he had of Mandalore, never had there been a better moment for that definition right now than ever before.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, as the _Aay'han_ was still in hyperspace, Kad'ika and Gotab finished playing their most recent game of sabacc. As had happened many times before, Kad'ika beat Gotab. They then cleaned up the deck and put it back into the cargo compartment. Once they started heading back to the cockpit, Gotab finally asked, "So, Kad'ika, where're we headed to?"

"Why are you so curious now, _buir_?" Kad'ika asked.

"Oh, I was still thinking about all the times we had on Mandalore, that's all," Gotab replied.

"Well, I never stopped thinking about those times since we left," Kad'ika said. "So I'm very glad you asked, Gotab."

"So where _are_ we going then?" Gotab asked as they finally reached the cockpit.

"Corellia, to get some extra fuel and supplies," Kad'ika said. And without changing his flat, monotonous tone, he continued by saying, "Then onto Imperial space."

They both sat down, Kad'ika once again the pilot, Gotab the copilot, and the latter then asked, "Okay. _Why_ are we going to Imperial space?"

"We're going to make the Moff Council pay for poisoning Mandalore's atmosphere like that, _buir_," Kad'ika replied. "We're simply going to go into their territory, hunt them down, and kill every last one of them."

If Gotab had been what other people called "sensible," he would demanded and begged Kad'ika not to do that. But instead, as a Mandalorian, as a warrior, prepared to go into battle and face death at every opportunity, he simply asked, "Is that all your plan?"

"Yes, why?" Kad'ika asked.

"You know, Kad'ika, the Empire may not have been as powerful as they were forty years ago, but they're still pretty big on forces," Gotab replied. "I don't doubt for a second your piloting abilities, your Force-senses, or even _Aay'han_'s durability in combat, but one ship against thousands? Don't you at least have a backup plan to fall back on, in case your failure in it sees that you survive at all?"

"I don't plan on going against the entire military of the Imperial Remnant, _buir_," Kad'ika replied. "I'm going to sneak into their territory, get past their defenses, find out where the Moffs are, and then kill them."

"And you think that's simple?" Gotab asked.

"Well, like you said, you don't doubt my piloting abilities, my Force-senses, or even _Aay'han_'s durability in combat, now do you?" Kad'ika asked.

Gotab hesitated. "No, I don't," he said. "But still, even as a man who's had to face danger dozens of times in my life, I still like to stay on the safe side."

"If you wanted to stay on the safe side, Gotab, you could have stayed on Mandalore," Kad'ika said. "You didn't have to come with me. After all, you wouldn't be affected by the nanovirus."

"You know I came with you, Kad'ika, because without you as my son, I had nothing else on Mandalore," Gotab said. "You're really all I have left. And even though I'm supposed to prepare for death at every turn, I don't want to see you die before time takes me."

"You have nothing to worry about, _buir_," Kad'ika reassured him. "And you still have quite a few years left in you, so there's no need to fret."

"When we're going behind Imperial lines without Admiral Daala's permission, I think I'm entitled to some fretting, Kad'ika," Gotab said.

"Daala's not in control of her loyal Remnant forces anymore, Gotab," Kad'ika informed him. "She's now ruling the Galactic Alliance as that _shabuir_ Caedus's replacement. Some guy from the Chiss Ascendancy named Jag Fel is ruling them as Head of State under Luke Skywalker's suggestion."

"Daala was voted in as Chief of State of the GA?" Gotab asked. "What _aruetiise_ voted her in, considering her little history?"

"Well, that fish-head Niathal didn't wanna take the job, considering the last time she led it, it was with a genocidal tyrant," Kad'ika replied.

"Suppose she didn't want history to repeat itself with her behind the government controls again?" Gotab asked.

They both laughed at that.

"No, but seriously, Kad'ika, if we're going to go through with this, we're going to have to have a more fullproof plan than what you're thinking," Gotab said. "It's not that I don't support you in this little enterprise, it's just I think that we can do better in terms of planning."

"If that's so, what do you have in mind_, _buir?" Kad'ika asked.

Gotab pursed his lips. "I'd say it's high-time we revisit some old family, Kad'ika. Though they're probably already off Mandalore by now like we are, and they're very good at hiding when they want to, it wouldn't be too hard to look for them."

Kad'ika looked at his adoptive father with confusion for a moment. Then realization dawned on him and he smiled with Gotab. "Indeed. I think we can use their help, _buir_."


	3. Chapter 3

After Kad'ika and Gotab refuelled and restocked the _Aay'han_ on Corellia, they decided to travel not directly to the Imperial Remnant as Kad'ika originally planned, but rather, he and Gotab were travelling to the Core.

Specifically Coruscant, where Gotab estimated they would find their old family members.

A few days after the _Aay'han_ left Corellia via hyperspace, the ship found its way back out into normal space in the Coruscant system.

As Gotab looked out at Coruscant, memories flooded back to him, like the last time he saw Mandalore. Except here, where Mandalore was a place full of natural beauty and ecological richness, Coruscant looked ugly in its urban landscape. From orbit, the planet looked like a dirty brown ball with orange and yellow lines that were lights, which were intersecting each other throughout the world. At this view, the light-lines looked like rivers of lava, similar to planets like Mustafar, Gotab noted. Whatever traces of habitation that the Yuuzhan Vong left on the planet's surface more than a decade ago were gone, and whatever would be left was most likely in the world's underbelly, which was almost never seen.

In fact, Coruscant's appearance from orbit was a perfect metaphor to Gotab. Its ugliness reflected the bad memories he had of this planet. Sure, there were good times, such as when he chatted and socialized with the clone Commandos during the Jabiimi terrorist operation, which took place just after the first year of the Clone Wars. But most of the time, Gotab saw just how brainwashed he had been thanks to the old Jedi Order into believing that their outdated traditions and practices were what kept the galaxy and the Force together like glue.

Of course, those were just bad memories in retrospect, for they weren't horrible to him for the time that he had been taught under the likes of Masters Yoda and Arligan Zey. The bad memories that Gotab had where he was fully aware of how bad it had been were when he was first in the Valorum Center and on the night of Order 66.

The Valorum Center was a mental hospital, and from what he heard, it had been among the thousands of buildings on Coruscant that were destroyed when the Yuuzhan Vong had captured it. When Bardan Jusik had first visited the Center on a mission to find a way to get Dr. Ovolot Qail Uthan to freedom–which didn't happen until the Separatists invaded Coruscant prior to Order 66–Jusik had sensed and felt the insanity, the disturbances, and the occasional misery of such mental patients.

The night of Order 66 took the cake though. And it wasn't that the Jedi Order had been brought down by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's rule. No, it was the fact that it was the night where Etain Tur-Mukan, one of Jusik's friends, had died. And she didn't even die under the hand of a clone trooper, who had been ordered to wipe out all Jedi throughout the galaxy at the time. Ironically, she died under the hand of one of her fellow Jedi during a skirmish on a bridge whose name Gotab had long forgotten by now.

Watching Etain die like that had been bad enough. But what made the situation worse was when Jusik witnessed one of the clone Commandos he had associated with–Niner–had fallen off the bridge and ended up with a broken spine. His brother, Darman, who was also Etain's husband, saw that with his wife's death, the one person he could save from death at that point was Niner.

But what truly topped that scene off was watching Kal Skirata, who would later become Jusik's father after the Empire replaced the Republic in galactic power, losing his mind over Etain's death and just attacking the Jedi who killed her with sheer brutality and raw rage. Though Skirata had always been described as a stone cold killer, Jusik had always looked upon the old man as a kind, warm, loving father–even if he almost only displayed those emotions to his clone sons, of course. But watching Skirata go insane like that... While it certainly didn't change Jusik's view of the man in the aftermath of that horrible night, it was still quite shocking for him to watch.

Gotab wiped those memories of Coruscant away for the moment and watched as Kad'ika piloted the _Aay'han_ through the atmosphere and eventually settled the ship down onto a landing pad somewhere in the Northern Districts. After getting out and locking up, the two of them began travelling down via turbolift towards the lower levels where they suspected that their family members would be.

"Can you sense them, Kad'ika?" Gotab asked.

Kad'ika adopted a look of concentration before answering, "Yes. They are here. And they are you figured they'd be after all."

Gotab smirked. "Figured that even with all the credits, they'd still like to live a humble life."

"Well, humbleness does have the intriguing prospect of discretion," Kad'ika countered. "Especially when you're bounty hunters."

"Good point," Gotab agreed.

Eventually, Kad'ika and Gotab stopped the turbolift at the desired level. The doors opened up in front of them, and they started travelling down the lower level apartment blocks. Not too long later, Kad'ika and Gotab reached a familiar safe house. Gotab knocked, and a few moments later, a familiar voice, "Who is it?"

"It's us, Jaing," Gotab said. "Kad'ika and I."

"I who?" Jaing asked.

"C'mon, stop fooling around, don't you recognize me?" Gotab asked. "It's Gotab!"

"If you're Gotab, then tell me something about yourself that no one outside the Circle would ever know about," Jaing demanded.

The Circle that Jaing was referring to was the Circle of Clan Skirata. It was the official term for all family members under Kal's name after he eventually passed away.

"My name was Bardan Jusik," Gotab began. "I was once a Jedi General in the Clone Wars; Darman and Etain Tur-Mukan were lovers; they had a kid named Venku who calls himself Kad'ika. Good for you yet?"

Two seconds later, the door unlocked and it was open. Jaing greeted the two of them and invited them inside.

"So where's Kom'rk?" Kad'ika asked.

"Here," another familiar voice called from the dining room, where he had been eating uj cake. "I just came back yesterday from a job within the Galactic Alliance itself."

"Oh?" Gotab asked. "What was it about?"

"Sorry. I'm on government contract not to release any details to anyone," Kom'rk replied. "Though to level with you, there'd been something from the Imperial Remnant that had tried to leak into Coruscant's systems."

"Does it have anything to do with nanobots?" Kad'ika asked, still thinking about the nanovirus plaguing Mandalore's atmosphere.

"Again, not allowed to release any confidential info like that," Kom'rk said.

"The answer is yes," Jaing said. "Not sure why the Remnant would wanna do that to the GA, considering the trouble that the Moffs had almost gone through for nearly assassinating that bimbo Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo."

"It was dated," Kom'rk said, disregarding his government contract now. "It'd been something that the Imperials attempted to do while Darth Caedus was still in power. Everything's settled now, and the Moffs are off the hook yet again."

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Kom'rk," Kad'ika said. "Because the Moffs are the exact reason that Gotab and I are here."

Jaing and Kom'rk looked at Kad'ika and Gotab. "Let me guess," Jaing said. "It has something to do with Mandalore, doesn't it?"

"What if we said it was?" Gotab asked rhetorically. "Would you help us in our attempt at payback?"

"You know we would," Jaing said before he turned to Kom'rk. "Isn't that right, Kom'rk?"

"You betcha," he said before addressing Kad'ika and Gotab. "So what did you two have in mind?"

"Well, Kad'ika originally thought of simply flying into the Empire's space, hunt down the Moffs, and kill them," Gotab replied. "So I figured we'd come here to seek assistance from you two in navigating through the Remnant's defences."

"What'd you like us to do, then?" Jaing asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you had any idea of slipping past those defences both inward and outward without being detected?" Gotab asked.

"Well, we are going to need a layout of their territory, a layout of where their defences would be most active, and any blank spaces where hidden security forces may be hiding," Kom'rk spoke for both him and Jaing. "After all, we should expect the unexpected."

"A galactic map isn't the hardest thing to get in, well, the galaxy," Kad'ika said. "And I'm sure that the HoloNet can highlight the territories of the various factions throughout the galaxy. Shouldn't be too hard for a couple of geniuses like you in finding the Remnant's forces from there, because I doubt they'd release such sensitive info to the public like that."

"It'll have to do," Jaing said. "Just let us print a map out, give us a day or two, and you'll have all the likely info you'll need that'll help you bypass Imperial forces."

"Good, we'll be on Coruscant 'til then," Gotab said.

And with that, he and Kad'ika turned around and left.


	4. Chapter 4

Mandalore 4

Exactly twenty-four hours later, after Kad'ika and Gotab toured the local marketplace for most of the day, they came back to Jaing and Kom'rk's to get their map. Jaing let them in and Kom'rk showed Kad'ika and Gotab the map they had printed off from the HoloNet, which triangulated around Imperial territory. Kom'rk explained that he and Jaing managed to make some estimates as to where the Imperials would secure their holdings the most and where they would be keeping secret forces in stock.

They managed to confirm their calculations to 100% certainty.

"There's only one catch to this," Jaing said. "We'll give you the map if you let Kom'rk, Mird, and I come along."

As if on cue, the strill Lord Mirdalin walked in. Mird was an ugly-looking but tamed beast that was the pet of the late Walon Vau. Jaing adopted it as his own pet after Vau passed away.

Without hesitating after he and Kad'ika looked at Mird, Gotab looked back to Jaing and Kom'rk and said, "Okay. You can come with us."

"Great," Jaing said as Kom'rk handed Gotab the map. "So when do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," Kad'ika said. "Because I want those Moffs dead just as fast."

Later, the five of them–including Lord Mird–arrived at the _Aay'han_ where Kad'ika unlocked the lowering ramp, and they all walked up. Soon after, the ramp was shut back up and sealed tight before the _Aay'han_'s engines started up and it flew off of Coruscant.

Once the ship was out past the sky, Kad'ika flew the _Aay'han_ for a while to escape Coruscant's gravity field before engaging the hyperdrive and flew into the thick blueness of hyperspace.

Next stop–Imperial space.

"All right, if our time in hyperspace should tell us anything," Gotab said as he read the map in the copilot's seat, "we'd be dropping out right here." He pointed at certain spot on the map for Kad'ika to look.

"That's smack in the middle of their forward defenses," Kad'ika pointed out.

"Correct, but only if we stay for another two hours in hyperspace," Gotab countered. "If we continue here for another five minutes, we should be on their fringes. From there, if Jaing and Kom'rk's calculations as to where the Empire's defenses, both forward and secretive, are correct, which I have no doubt they are, we'll be able to bypass them without their noticing. That is, unless you screw up in your piloting."

Kad'ika stared at his adoptive father with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Which, of course, I know you won't," Gotab acquiesced. "Look, when the timer goes down to 1:55:00, drop out of hyperspace and I'll let you do the rest of the flying on your own. I'm going back to the cabin. I'm gonna see how our three geniuses are doing." Gotab had been referring to Lord Mirdalin as one of the three geniuses because it–strills don't really have a gender, so Mird is an "it"–was smarter than it appeared. In fact, Mird was a lot smarter than many trained animals that even the best akk dog trainers would blush at how great Walon Vau had trained this strill. Kad'ika viewed Mird in the same light as Gotab, considering that the strill had protected him as an infant with a motherly affection.

When Gotab looked back to find out what Jaing and Kom'rk were doing, he found that they were playing sabacc in the very same table that he and Kad'ika had been playing on just a few days earlier. Mird, meanwhile, was quietly napping in the corner, though the strill emitted an unpleasant odor as it always did.

Gotab smiled like that. I brought back good memories.

"Mind if I join you?" Gotab asked Jaing and Kom'rk. "Kad'ika's got the layout like I showed him, so we should be all right. For the while, anyway."

"Pull up a chair, Gotab," Jaing invited. "The more, the merrier, right, Kom'rk?"

"Indeed," Kom'rk agreed.

"Great," Gotab replied as he sat himself in between Jaing and Kom'rk around the circular table. Jaing handed out Gotab's cards, and they played.

An hour later, the game ended, and this time, unlike his previous match with Kad'ika, Gotab won this round of sabacc against Jaing and Kom'rk.

"I swear, you were using the Force on us to cheat," Jaing accused in a tone that said he wasn't serious.

Gotab smirked. "Now why would I do that?" he asked. "That would take some of the fun out of sabacc, now wouldn't it?"

Jaing then shook his head in agreement alongside Kom'rk. "Yeah, I suppose you have a point," he said. "I mean, if I had the Force, I wouldn't exactly-"

Jaing trailed off as he looked with Kom'rk at Gotab's face. The latter had a look of worry, and Mird woke up abruptly, howling in what seemed to be in preparation for battle.

"Gotab, what's wrong?" Kom'rk asked as Jaing got up to check on the strill.

"I felt a disturbance in the Force," Gotab replied when he eventually came to from his look of worry. Then he got up from his chair and rushed back into the _Aay'han_'s cockpit with Kom'rk following behind. Before he could make it, an abrupt jolt abounded the ship, nearly knocking Gotab and Kom'rk off their feet. They regained their balance and continued on to the cockpit.

"Kad'ika, what's going on?" Gotab asked once he and Kom'rk arrived in the cockpit.

"An unforeseen obstacle in our journey," Kad'ika said. "We dropped out behind a small moon that wasn't on the HoloNet map." Ahead, there was indeed a small moon in the distance.

"Why the hell wasn't this on the map?" Gotab asked no one in particular.

All of a sudden, an Imperial Star Destroyer appeared from behind the moon.

"I think we fell into a trap," Kad'ika said.

A beep sounded on the comm, and a gruff, strict, militaristic voice said, "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Relen Yage of the Star Destroyer _Victorious_. You are in restricted Imperial territory. Identity yourself and state your intentions at once. If you do not comply, you will be destroyed."

"What do we do?" Kom'rk asked simply.

"We identify ourselves," Kad'ika said, "and state our intentions."

"Seriously, Kad'ika?" Gotab asked. "Are you really going to tell them that we intended to fly in through their space so that we can kill their leaders?"

The message from the militaristic voice repeated its message.

"Yes," Kad'ika replied to Gotab. Then he turned back to the comm, activated it, and said, "Captain Yage, this is Captain Kad'ika of the _Aay'han_. We intended to fly through our space undetected and kill every member of the Moff Council. Will you let us proceed?" Kad'ika said that last part in a mock-friendly tone, as if he were making a simple request that didn't involve murder or assassination.

"Captain Kad'ika," Yage replied, "are you _serious_?"

"As a heart attack," Kad'ika said threateningly. "If you don't let us go, I will single-handedly use this ship to destroy your vessel, all your forces, and you, and then proceed to kill your leaders. If you do allow me to go by, and tell all your friends in the Imperial military not to mess with me, I will only kill your leaders, and then you'll at least have the pleasure of being alive to elect new members on the Moff Council. Understood?"

"Good luck," Yage replied. "I'll be sending a squad of TIE fighters to destroy you first."

"Thank you for giving me a challenge," Kad'ika said. "Though I won't be the one destroyed." And with that, he cut the comm and watched as the _Victorious_ vomited a squad of TIE fighters, just as Yage promised.

"Kad'ika!" Kom'rk yelled. "Are you crazy?"

"If I am, none of us will be alive to confirm that," Kad'ika said without looking back to either Kom'rk or Gotab.

As the TIE fighters rapidly approached the _Aay'han_, Kad'ika told Kom'rk to tell Jaing to strap down with Mird, and then asked for Gotab to either go back into the passenger cabin or back to the copilot's seat. Gotab elected to be the copilot's seat, and then Kad'ika veered the ship beneath the TIEs toward the moon.

With Kad'ika heading toward the moon, the TIEs turned to follow the _Aay'han_, and soon, it dived straight into one of the moon's many pocketed craters. Kad'ika circled the ship around the crater's circumference so that the front of the _Aay'han_ would face the approaching TIEs again.

"Gotab, fire!" Kad'ika ordered.

And with that, Gotab grabbed hold of the dual firing sticks that Kad'ika installed after Kal Skirata died and red pinpoints fired out towards the TIEs. Several of the ships exploded by the lasers, but their maneuverability allowed the survivors to move out of the wave of lasers so that they can launch their own volley of green pinpoints. All of the green lasers failed to hit the _Aay'han_ as it circled the inside of the crater, and what lasers that did try to shoot the ship at where it was going in its flight was dodged when Kad'ika jinked and juked the _Aay'han_ this way and that.

Eventually, when the _Aay'han_ was circling around for a second lap around the inside of the crater, its back was turned to the TIEs again, so Kad'ika piloted the ship up and out of the crater. It took a few hits in the back as a result, but the shields held, and Kad'ika used his senses in the Force to once again dodge the ship from any other lasers that the shields wouldn't have protected the _Aay'han_ from.

Now that the _Aay'han_ was out in the open again, however, that meant that the _Victorious_ could fire its turbolasers at the relatively smaller ship. Kad'ika managed to dodge these attacks just as much as the TIE fighters' lasers, and some of the _Victorious_'s own attacks actually destroyed the TIE fighters it unleashed for the _Aay'han_. He was also passing from several other craters that offered him other opportunities to repeat the tactic of destroying the TIEs like he did the last time.

It wasn't long, though, before Kad'ika dropped the _Aay'han_ into another random crater up ahead. But instead of following along, the TIEs fell back, and a second later, a rain of large green lasers from the Star Destroyer's turbolasers tried to blast the _Aay'han_ into oblivion. The impact of the lasers even if they didn't hit the ship would have been catastrophic enough to lower the _Aay'han_'s shields considerably. But fortunately, as Gotab noted, Kad'ika had deliberately picked this crater with his Force-senses as it had a cave up ahead in its concave wall that was big enough for the _Aay'han_ to fly through and escape the explosions that the Star Destroyer's turbolasers made.

Without even turning on the ship's lights, Kad'ika flew in the dark of the cave using his Force-senses alone. He told Gotab to activate the concussion missile shafts, and then Kad'ika manually fired the missiles himself to blow a hole in the wall up ahead that no human eye could see in the dark.

Once that hole was made, the _Aay'han_ flew straight through it and Gotab instantly fired red lasers at the TIE fighters that, in terms of space, were relatively above them. Six more TIEs were lost as a result, and, as Gotab quickly counted before Kad'ika flew the _Aay'han_ away from the remnants of the TIE squadron, there were just about five left.

Up ahead of the _Aay'han_ now was a tall spire that was several miles high. Kad'ika flew the ship as if he were on a suicide run to ram the spire, and slowed down long enough to allow two of the TIEs to catch up to him. The green lasers began to nip at the _Aay'han_'s shields more frequently despite Kad'ika's piloting, but the gamble paid off when he abruptly veered around the spire and both TIEs crashed into it, exploding instantly.

Kad'ika then swung the ship back around, and Gotab easily blasted the last remaining fighters out of existence. Then the Star Destroyer _Victorious_ appeared around the curve of the moon, and then Kad'ika told Gotab, "Now activate the shield jammer."

Gotab nodded and pressed a button to, as Kad'ika said, activate the shield jammer, which was a device that Kad'ika and Gotab themselves had invented to strip large ships–like Star Destroyers–of their shields for a few minutes. They had never actually used the shield jammer before, but now was a good time as any for a first usage.

The jammer instantly came online, and the _Victorious_'s shields immediately dropped. Both Kad'ika and Gotab sensed the worry of the Star Destroyer's crew onboard as they realized that their shields were gone. The spray of large green needles from the _Victorious_ became more desperate as it tried harder to destroy the _Aay'han_, but Kad'ika still dodged the shots with ease.

Soon, Kad'ika came in close range for Gotab to unleash the proton torpedoes on the Star Destroyer. They both sensed that Captain Yage finally gave the order to call for backup, so without hesitating a microsecond, Gotab unleashed the proton torpedoes, which all escaped disintegration from the Star Destroyer's large lasers, and they hit the _Victorious_'s armored plating with grand explosions. Kad'ika and Gotab both felt the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of crew members aboard. They even felt the regret mixed with fear of death from a particular crew member who failed to carry out Yage's final order of calling for backup.

Despite the deaths, though, it was necessary for Kad'ika and Gotab to continue on with their goal.

A few more proton torpedoes and concussion missiles later, the _Victorious_'s turbolasers finally fell silent and it exploded thanks to a hit from one of the proton torpedoes to the Star Destroyer's reactor core.

With that, Kad'ika turned from the massive debris of the _Victorious_, plotted the coordinates for the _Aay'han_'s next hyperspace jump, and they were gone again.


	5. Chapter 5

Mandalore 5

Following the _Aay'han_'s battle with the late Captain Yage's forces in the unidentified system, Kad'ika flew the ship for two hours and always dropped out of hyperspace every ten minutes or so in case they were to run into another mass shadow that wasn't on the map Jaing and Kom'rk printed out. As for Jaing and Kom'rk themselves, they were in the passenger compartment with Gotab again, only this time, they weren't playing sabacc or any other games. This time, they were discussing about the circumstances that led up to the battle.

"I'll give the Imperials this," Kom'rk said. "They were smart in not including systems like that in any public maps."

"It does give them an advantage over pirates and smugglers," Jaing agreed. "Which puts in even more factors into the equation of getting through the Empire's space. Now that we don't know if there will be any more systems that will include secret patrols that Kom'rk and I didn't estimate about, that means we're in more hot water than we first thought."

"And what's worse," Gotab said, "is that the closer we get to the heart of the Imperial Remnant, the closer we get to the Moffs, we're likely to incur more patrols that, as you said, neither of you had even estimated about. Not only that, but these patrols are likely to be stronger in number than that of the _Victorious_ and her compliment of TIEs."

Jaing snapped his fingers and said, "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we just turn back-"

"We're not turning back!" The three of them all heard Kad'ika's voice shout from the cockpit. Then he put the ship on autopilot for the next ten minutes, since he just got off from another normal space search routine, and stalked back to the compartment to look Jaing in the eye. "I am _not_ going to just let the Moffs get away with poisoning Mandalore's atmosphere for everyone related to Jango Fett, clone and non-clone alike, like that."

"I wasn't suggesting that we turn back and abandon the mission entirely, Kad'ika," Jaing countered sternly. "I was suggesting that we just put it on a little hiatus so that we can gather support from other Mandos who may agree on our little mission. And considering that the planet has been poisoned so that Boba Fett can never return home without immediately dying, I'd say we'd have plenty of supporters."

"No," Kad'ika disagreed. "I don't want anyone else to get involved with this. The Moffs are _mine_."

"So why did you bring me along in the first place, Kad'ika?" Gotab asked.

"Because I had just thought about it when we left Mandalore's system," Kad'ika said. "I would've left you on Corellia in case you disagreed with my mission when I finally told you on the planet. The four of you on this mission-" He indicated Lord Mirdalin at Jaing's side "–are enough as it is. You can still help me, but that's it. We're not turning back for anything. Not until all of the Moffs are dead."

And with that, Gotab had sensed a greater darkness within Kad'ika's Force presence than usual. Sure, he had always sensed this within the younger man, but it wasn't something that had really scared him. Not even the intention of this mission, or even Kad'ika killing Captain Yage and his Imperial supporters, was enough to warrant any concern from Gotab. But now, he had finally sensed something within his adoptive son that the Jedi Order of both old and new were afraid of.

Gotab was sensing the dark side of the Force within Kad'ika.

"Kad'ika," he said. "You have to stop and think for a minute here. I support your little venture here a hundred and ten percent, but if we don't do what Jaing suggested, we won't succeed in this mission at all. You'll get us all killed before we can end up in the same system as the Moffs."

"No, I won't," Kad'ika said with full arrogance. "I will not die. _They_ will die. The Moffs' days are numbered, and so are the days of any who would dare to protect them after what I did to that Star Destroyer and its TIE fighters."

Of course, if Kad'ika and Gotab had destroyed the _Victorious_ in time–which he was pretty much sure they did–then neither Yage nor any of his subordinates ever had the opportunity to even speak a word of the _Aay'han_'s destructive capabilities under Kad'ika's hand before the Star Destroyer killed them all. Gotab didn't voice this bit of logic, as he was still slightly terrified of what he was sensing in Kad'ika right now, and neither Jaing nor Kom'rk were voicing this because Lord Mird had straightened and actually started _growling_ at Kad'ika.

"What is it, Mird?" Jaing asked.

"Oh, shut up, you stupid animal," Kad'ika abruptly said.

The three other humans looked at Kad'ika in shocked disquiet at what he just said to Mird, even after the sense of dread Gotab already accumulated. And as if in response to what was said to it, Mird leapt over the table and soared for Kad'ika.

But the latter already had his lightsaber taken off his belt and ignited before Mird could get a meter to him. Then he swept the blade up and decapitated the strill.

The head bounced off the compartment's deck before the body itself flopped to the ground. And before Mird's head finally stopped bouncing off the deck, Jaing and Kom'rk swiftly took out their blasters and began firing at Kad'ika without thinking–just like the soldiers they were during the Clone Wars, Gotab noted despite the culmination of his shock over Kad'ika killing Mird.

Despite their expert training in combat and marksmanship, Kad'ika's Force-enhanced skills with his lightsaber blocked off and deflected every shot fired at him from the two clones back to them. The bolts truck their armor, but the worst the damage did was knock them off their feet without even close to denting their _beskar_ armor beneath their clothing. Kad'ika sought to finish them off nevertheless as he began approaching them from around the table while they were still downed.

While Jaing and Kom'rk were off their feet for the moment, Gotab activated his own lightsaber and blocked Kad'ika's way by striking their blades together. They stared at each other, and now, Gotab was fully sensing the dark side in Kad'ika right now.


	6. Chapter 6

Mandalore 6

"Kad'ika, you don't want to do this," Gotab said as he and Kad'ika pushed against each others' lightsabers.

"I thought you were on my side," Kad'ika growled. Then he pirouetted Gotab's blade out of the way and smacked his elbow joint into the old man's face. Gotab flew backward over the gaming table and ended up in between Jaing and Kom'rk, who then leapt up, knelt behind the table, and began laying covering fire against Kad'ika.

But the younger man leapt over the table and the three older men entirely until he ended up behind them. As Jaing and Kom'rk swiftly turned around, Gotab was just getting up, but by that time, Kad'ika had already started for Kom'rk. He sliced his blaster in half while simultaneously dodging a couple of blaster bolts from Jaing. He then kicked Jaing's blaster out of his hand and then head-butted Kom'rk on top of the table.

Gotab then slashed downward from overhead, but Kad'ika blocked it easily. He and Gotab traded a few more clashes while Jaing rushed to the corner to retrieve his blaster. He rolled the last meter and came up in a crouch, firing in Kad'ika's specific direction without intending to harm Gotab. But the former, having sensed the next bolt coming his way, disengaged from Gotab and flipped away toward the exit of the compartment at the back.

The three older men then rushed for the exit that Kad'ika rushed through, but found that he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, before Gotab could even sense him, Kad'ika swung down from the ceiling with his lightsaber at his side, and he kicked Jaing and Kom'rk in their faces simultaneously while he gave Gotab a double-fist to the forehead. All three men fell to the ground, but Gotab was the quicker man to recover as he pushed himself to his feet. He realized he was missing his lightsaber just as Kad'ika brandished his and swung for a decapitation. Gotab ducked beneath, and then Jaing, still sitting on the ground, brought up his blaster again and shot.

But Kad'ika spun out of the way, and then, instead of cutting the blaster in half, he made a swing that took off Jaing's blaster hand itself. The old Fett clone fell back curling into a fetal position as he screamed in agony over his lost hand. But even though this event costed Jaing his hand, the direction from which both the dismembered limb and the blaster flew toward landed in the same corner as Gotab's lightsaber, as the latter saw.

So he leapt and flew toward his weapon, rolled the last meter or so, but before he could physically bring it up, it flew away from his direction and into Kad'ika's free hand, as Gotab looked.

Kom'rk, meanwhile, had just gotten up off the ground and unsheathed his vibroblade as Kad'ika opened up Gotab's blade. Kom'rk swung for Kad'ika's throat, but the latter easily dodged the strike and then stabbed Gotab's lightsaber into Kom'rk's chest. Due to his armor, however, the attack had discharged but sent the Fett clone backward into the bulkhead. After he slid down the wall, though, Gotab then tackled Kad'ika out of the way from decapitating one of his uncles. In the event of Gotab's attack, Kad'ika released both lightsabers, and the next thing both men knew, they were on the deck wrestling and punching and kicking each other into submission.

After a few seconds of the brawl, though, Kad'ika won out, and managed to get a kick to Gotab's face that sent him back toward the gaming table. Kad'ika leapt up, and the next thing he saw was Kom'rk charging him with his vibroblade again. Kad'ika moved out of the way from the attempted stab to his torso, grabbed Kom'rk's arm with both hands, and then flipped him to the deck. He then kicked the charging Gotab in the chest, and on the downswing of his kick, he struck Kom'rk at the side of the head so hard, Gotab, just a second after hitting the floor again, heard a _crack!_ from the clone's direction.

With that, Kad'ika turned back around and looked down upon Gotab. The latter then looked around him to get a bearing of his space, as Kad'ika seemed to be allowing him to do this for some reason, and he saw that two of his allies against his adoptive son were dead, and the other was too injured to do any good to him.

Which meant that he was alone in this fight now.

Kad'ika reached out with the Force for his lightsaber just Gotab did for his. They ignited their blades and stared at each other.

"Why, Kad'ika?" Gotab asked, indicating their three fallen comrades. "_Why_?"

"You wouldn't help me, as I saw," Kad'ika said. "You would just get in my way."

"No, Kad'ika," Gotab countered. "You let yourself get in the way. You let your drive for vengeance cloud your judgment so that you would see even your closest friends as enemies."

"What are you, a Jedi?" Kad'ika mocked.

"No," Gotab replied. "But I once was. And even though I saw the old Order as corrupt and decadent in its ideals as the Republic Senate, I have to admit–they had a point."

"You regret adopting me from my _real_ father, Darman Skirata," Kad'ika said. "Don't you? You knew you could never be like him. Like a real soldier who knew when to help his allies, his friends–his brothers."

"You're right, Darman was a soldier," Gotab said. "But real soldiers like him took orders from those higher on up who knew the bigger picture. Who knew how to keep their men alive. Like Kal Skirata. While you may be a Mandalorian, you're not a soldier, Kad'ika, and you never will be. Not like this.

"And though I may not be Darman, I'm still among one of the many men and women who raised you in the house of Clan Skirata, who gave you the comfort and love your real parents never had the chance of giving you after we left the Republic. I don't regret trying to fill the shoes that Darman himself barely had the time to wear, and I don't regret having you for a son, either. I never did. But it seems that in my drive to teach you to balance your heritage of being a Force-user and your heritage of being a Mando, I had failed you. I'm so sorry, my son."

"I'm so sorry, too, buir," Kad'ika responded, putting the emphasis on the last word to let Gotab know that even in Mandalorian terms, he wasn't his real father. "Sorry that you couldn't completely let go of your stupid weak Jedi traditions in the cause of avenging what was wrong!" Then he charged.

And Gotab met him while staying in place, prepared for attack. Then the two of them fought, one-on-one, with Gotab fighting with the calm and peace that his long-forgotten Jedi teachings had taught him, while Kad'ika fought with the boiling dark side rage of pure, unadulterated, negative emotion.

Between these two methods of fighting the other, Kad'ika's method was winning.

Though Gotab defended himself from any of the hot sizzling energy of Kad'ika's blade, it seemed that this blade was pushing him back instead of Kad'ika's sheer determination to eliminate all who stood in his way–including the one who raised him after Kal Skirata died and all the other members in the clan went their separate ways.

Eventually, Gotab's back met the wall behind him, but he rolled out of the way as Kad'ika slashed down to cleave the older man in two. By the time Gotab had gotten to his feet and turned around to face Kad'ika, the latter was already setting upon him and the two clashed lightsabers again, once more forcing Gotab back as they fought.

Meanwhile, while neither battling Force-users were noticing, the wounded but still active Jaing was slowly but steadily crawling toward the corner for his lost blaster.

Back with the duel between Kad'ika and Gotab, when the two once again locked lightsabers, Kad'ika took advantage of his push against the older man and tripped him backward. Though Gotab cushioned his fall to the floor with the Force, it was almost a momentary distraction for him when Kad'ika raised his lightsaber and stabbed down for Gotab's chest. The latter rolled to his right, tripping Kad'ika forward when he lost the balance in his left leg. He fell to his left knee as a result and buried his lightsaber up to the pommel while Gotab pushed to his feet and kicked the younger man up the jaw. The latter flew back to the bulkhead behind him and slid to his butt while his lightsaber's safety switch deactivated the blade.

Gotab then reached down and picked up the deactivated lightsaber. He turned the blade on and advanced on Kad'ika while the latter was trying to push himself up from the strike the older man brought to his jaw. But when he was on his elbows, he felt scorching heat on the sides of his neck, and saw that the two lightsabers that Gotab was now holding were in a criss-cross that could easily decapitate Kad'ika with one flick of each wrist at the same time.

Kad'ika looked up at Gotab's blank expression and responded with a sneer. "Go ahead, old man," he mocked. "Do it. I dare you."

Gotab pursed his lips in preparation for his last words to Kad'ika before he was forced to kill him. But then Jaing had just reached his blaster, grabbed with his remaining hand, cocked it, and directed it to Kad'ika's head just above the lightsabers. Gotab was too busy thinking of the words to say to his adoptive son while the latter's dim awareness of the clone allowed him to use the Force to propel Gotab back across the deck while he rolled forward and out of Jaing's blaster bolt. He came up in a crouch, and before Jaing could fire off another shot, Kad'ika used the Force to pull the weapon out of Jaing's grip and into his own hand. He looked back to Gotab who leapt to his feet and charged with both lightsabers blazing.

But Kad'ika leapt over both blades and kicked down onto Gotab's arms, pinning him there to the floor before kicking both feet up the older man's jaw and sending him flying back while Kad'ika himself flipped backward from his own attack. The lightsabers, turned off again, flew to the opposite corners of the passenger compartment as Kad'ika almost leisurely turned to the downed Jaing and aimed the blaster for the clone's head.

All of a sudden, the ship lurched violently, and Kad'ika was thrown off his feet, keeping his grip on the blaster though. He pushed himself up, and then he heard a lightsaber activate again. He turned barely in time to see Gotab charging with his own lightsaber ready to attack, but Kad'ika simply used the Force to propel him back against the bulkhead behind him and knock him unconscious. Then he rolled back over his shoulder and to his feet, turning to the direction of the cockpit, but didn't enter it before he looked back at Jaing and shot the clone straight in the forehead, killing him instantly.

He didn't have the time to do the same to Gotab, though, as he had to find out what the _Aay'han_ flew into now. Yet again it was a small planetoid, devoid of life like the moon that the _Aay'han_ fought the _Victorious_ and her forces at, that was emitting a gravity field that pulled the ship out of hyperspace.

The entire fight had Kad'ika forget about the fact he was in Imperial territory.

As expected, a Star Destroyer appeared from behind the planetoid–just like the _Victorious_ before it–and the console beeped. Kad'ika sat down back in the pilot's chair–keeping his Force senses alert in case Gotab woke up–and activated the console.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Drein Flennic of the Star Destroyer _Bloodfin II_," the voice on the other line said. "Identify yourself and state your intentions."

Kad'ika opened up communication. "Captain Flennic, this is Captain Kad'ika Skirata of the vessel _Aay'han_," he said. "I am a smuggler with illegal goods–spices and drugs–to be specific, delivering them all to Bastion as my destination."

Silence dominated the other end of the console–surely, Captain Flennic probably wasn't expecting a smuggler to admit what he was doing like that–and then Flennic said, "Captain Skirata, you are under arrest for harboring illegal goods and delivering them to the heart of the mighty Imperial Remnant. Standby for boarding."

"As you wish, Captain," Kad'ika replied, almost mockingly.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kad'ika had to say that Kom'rk was correct. They did need another way to the Empire rather than just flying there almost blind due to the faulty data given by the map.

And now Kad'ika was going to attain that sure way to the Empire–and more importantly, the Moffs.


	7. Chapter 7

Mandalore 7

After the _Bloodfin II_ had the _Aay'han_ caught in a tractor beam, Kad'ika got up out of his seat and went back to the passenger cabin. There, he planned to finally kill Gotab and clean up the mess that was the result of the fight.

But as soon as he stepped out of the cockpit, Gotab, standing right in front of Kad'ika with both lightsabers activated, somehow having avoided the younger man's Force senses, slashed down with the blades to cleave off the younger man's arms. But the latter had already jumped back from the attack, landing with his back to the control console of the ship, and then he used the Force again to push Gotab back into the cabin. Kad'ika followed up by leaping out of the cockpit and landing on top of the downed Gotab, grabbing both of his wrists before he could use the lightsabers to kill Kad'ika.

The latter then head-butted the former right in the nose, sending a spurt of blood gushing out of Gotab's nostrils, which allowed for Kad'ika to grab both lightsabers out of the older man's hands, flip back a meter, and then charged to finish Gotab off. But the latter had recovered more quickly than Kad'ika expected from the head-butt to the nose, and Gotab flipped over his opponent and kicked him in the small of his back without turning around.

Kad'ika flew forward toward the exit of the cabin as a result, and turned onto his aching back as Gotab charged while simultaneously pulling the blaster that Kad'ika used to kill Jaing with. Gotab aimed and shot several times, which Kad'ika easily blocked with both blades, but realizing that Gotab was using this tactic as a distraction somehow, he threw Gotab's blade forward with the Force to slash his weapon hand off.

Of course, as Kad'ika realized too late, shooting at him multiple times was just bait for Gotab to quickly discard his blaster and take his lightsaber with the Force. By the time he grabbed it, it took another two meters for him to approach the downed Kad'ika and strike down. Kad'ika blocked the strike with his own blade, and then kicked with both feet into Gotab's gut. The old man flew back into the passenger cabin as Kad'ika leapt up swiftly to his feet and charged back in.

Gotab easily dodged the downward swipe of Kad'ika's blade that could have cut him in half at the waist by rolling backward over his shoulder. Then he was up on his feet in a crouch, jumped back a meter to void a decapiating strike from his opponent, and was standing on his feet straight again to properly engage Kad'ika in a straightforward lightsaber duel again.

About half a minute of the two Force-users clashing blades, they both realized, as they heard a hydraulic _hiss!_ coming from the back of the ship, that the airlock was opened. They had crossed blades once again when they heard the airlock opening, and Gotab, despite the pressure being applied to his aging strength, managed to ask, "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

Kad'ika pushed Gotab back and traded a couple of lightsaber strikes with him before replying, "They're the Empire's boarding party for the _Aay'han_. But I'll be using them to get aboard their Star Destroyer and use it to safely get to the Moffs and kill them–just as soon as I do the same to you first, Gotab."

Kad'ika advanced on his opponent again, and a few more strikes later, a platoon of stormtroopers appeared at the end of the passenger cabin with their blaster rifles aimed at the two Mandalorians dueling each other. The dark-uniformed men at the center of the troops' position, looking at the grisly scene in the cabin as he observed the dead bodies of Jaing, Kom'rk, and Lord Mirdalin, then looked toward the fight and sternly yelled, "The both of you, freeze! Stop, or my men will shoot you both!"

Kad'ika and Gotab ignored the stormtroopers' commanding officer and continued dueling. So, without giving the Force-users any further warning, he signaled for his troops to set their blasters to stun and ordered them to fire. Once the stun bolts headed for both men at the other end, they turned away from each other and leapt over the fire. They rolled across the deck once they landed, and upon getting back to their feet, they begin killing the stormtroopers while simultaneously evading and deflecting their fire with their lightsabers.

The troopers' commanding officer backed out of the passenger cabin, then he turned and rushed back to the airlock, seeing that it would be futile to try to apprehend these two Force-users when they were killing off his men like cattle. But Kad'ika saw the officer run back to the airlock while Gotab was dealing with his own batch of troopers, so the younger Force-user, having killed off all the stormtroopers trying to shoot him down, chased after the commanding officer after deactivating his lightsaber and hooking it to his belt. In less than half a minute, he chased the fleeing officer down and caught him before he could reach the airlock.

Kad'ika then turned the officer around by his shoulder, pinned him to the bulkhead behind him with the Force, and then used his free hand to wave and say, "You will take me aboard your ship without any difficulty. You are to tell your captain, your superiors, and all of your subordinates that I am a guest to be taken directly to the Moff Council."

The weak-minded officer repeated Kad'ika's words like a drone, then he led him out of the airlock peacefully. Kad'ika locked the _Aay'han_'s airlock door behind him once he sensed that Gotab had just finished dealing with the stormtroopers he was fighting and was rushing for the airlock now. Kad'ika told the officer that they had to hurry, so they flat-out ran to the other end where the _Bloodfin_ _II_'s airlock was open for Kad'ika and the commanding officer. Once the latter two were in, Kad'ika sealed that airlock door just as he saw through the door's viewport that Gotab had opened the _Aay'han_'s airlock door.

Without wasting a second, Kad'ika turned the weak-minded officer under his control and told him to tell to retract the _Bloodfin II_'s airlock bridge from the _Aay'han_. The officer complied without comment as h pushed a button on the bulkhead that instantly disengaged the bridge from the other ship.

Which would leave Gotab out in the cold vacuum of space–and to his death, Kad'ika noted with satisfaction.


	8. Chapter 8

Mandalore 8

Once Gotab opened the airlock door of the _Aay'han_, he immediately sensed through the Force Kadíka's intent on killing him by ordering the retraction of the airlock bridge on the _Bloodfin II_'s end. So, without thinking, Gotab immediately took a step back into the airlock itself while simultaneously creating a Force-wall right in the threshold of the open space-directed airlock door. It took all of his concentration to keep that wall intact as he shifted Force-control of the wall from both hands to his left hand. Then he reached over and with all of his natural muscles in that arm pulled down the lever to close the door.

As soon as the door was closed, Gotab took a moment to compose himself after the strain in himself from using the Force like that. Then he rushed to the cockpit, took hold of the _Aay'han_, and began to circle around to target the Star Destroyer. As soon as it moved, the _Bloodfin II_'s turbolasers began spewing green plumes of death at him, and while he managed to dodge most of the lasers, he was no Kad'ika in terms of piloting. A few of the shots grazed across the _Aay'han_'s shields as he flew, and considering the green lasers' destructive power, the console always beeped a warning to Gotab, telling him how significantly damaged the shields are as a result of the strikes.

And because Gotab was doing his best to avoid all of the incoming fire from the Star Destroyer, he was having too hard a time trying to find even a second to activate the shield jammer and let loose a volley of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles to destroy the _Bloodfin II_–and Kad'ika.

Meanwhile, aboard the Star Destroyer itself, the commanding officer of the now-dead platoon of stormtroopers aboard the _Aay'han_–Lieutenant Jaklin–walked Kad'ika towards the bridge of the _Bloodfin II_. No crew member dared to question Jaklin of who Kad'ika was until they finally entered the bridge.

There, Captain Drein Flennic turned from the viewport that showed green pinpricks of light trying to destroy the evading _Aay'han_. After the doors automatically closed behind Kad'ika and Jaklin, Flennic asked, "Lieutenant Jaklin, who is this man on my bridge right now?"

Just as Jaklin opened his mouth, Kad'ika waved him silent and spoke for himself. "My name is Kad'ika Skirata. You remember me from our conversation while I was aboard that ship-" Kad'ika indicated the _Aay'han_ flying out there behind Flennic "–correct?"

"Ah, yes, I remember you," Flennic said. "But tell me, since I just saw that you have some form of control over my lieutenant, may I ask you why you're not in the brig right now for smuggling drugs through our territory?"

"Because I was never smuggling drugs through your territory, Captain Flennic," Kad'ika simply responded. "I simply used that as a pretense of getting aboard your ship."

"Oh?" Flennic responded with a brow raised. "And why exactly did you want to come on my ship?"

"Because I plan to use this ship as a ticket in meeting the Moff Council and slaying every one of them by the blade of my lightsaber," Kad'ika answered as he freely showed Flennic the cylinder hanging on his belt.

"Really?" Flennic asked with curiosity. "And what makes you think I'll ever allow to do that within a million years?"

Kad'ika smiled viciously. "Have you heard from the _Victorious_ lately?" he asked.

Flennic crossed his arms. "What about it?"

"In case you haven't investigated the debris recently, I was the one who single-handedly destroyed it," Kad'ika said, ignoring the fact that Gotab helped him in that battle.

Flennic's eyes widened in shock, and this even drew the interest of the other crew members among the bridge who had been ignoring the conversation between Kad'ika and their captain.

"How in all of the Nine Hells of Corellia did you ever manage to do that?" Flennic asked.

"That ship out there," Kad'ika said, directly pointing at it, forcing Flennic to look out the viewport again. "It's equipped with a shield jammer. If it gets in range, or if the pilot, who's no longer on my side, by the way, ever gets the chance to activate it, your shield will come down and stay that way just long enough for that ship's weapons to destroy this Star Destroyer.

"If you will escort me to Bastion in order to kill the Moffs, I will save all of your lives by taking one of your TIE fighters and use it to destroy that ship. And for allowing me to rid your government of the scum that rules it, I'll spare the lives of you and your crew so that you'll live to elect new members on the Moff Council."

Flennic turned back to face Kad'ika. "If we do that, we'll be held to treason by government and be executed for our trouble," the captain argued.

"Then you have my word that, after I succeed in killing the Moffs, that I will not allow a single member of your crew to be executed as long as I live," Kad'ika said.

Flennic smirked. "As long as you live," he repeated. "The Empire will live longer than you ever will, that much I can guarantee. Why shouldn't I just kill you right now?"

Kad'ika almost laughed. "There's two ways out of this, Captain Flennic," Kad'ika said. "One, I can mind-trick into doing what I want anyway, as I sense that you're fairly weak-minded–a typical trait among Imperial officers, I must say. The second way is that I can very well kill you and everyone else aboard this bridge right now, dash out to take one of your shuttles, and leave everyone else I didn't kill to die by the hands of the pilot on the _Aay'han_ right now. And if I use mind-tricks on you, like I am doing to Lieutenant Jaklin right now, I'll leave you to be executed for treason afterwards. Otherwise, you have no other choice but to submit to me... and my word that you'll be spared of any execution for the rest of my own life."

Flennic raised his lip in anger. It took him a moment, where the only sound on the bridge was the _blast!_ing of the _Bloodfin II_'s turbolasers as they tried to destroy the _Aay'han_. Then the captain relented and said, "I'll give you clearance to the launch bay. You can have any TIE fighter there you'd like."

Kad'ika mock-bowed and gave Flennic an almost courteous smile. "Thank you, Captain Flennic," he said. Then he turned around and jogged out to make for the launch bay. As soon as he was off the bridge, Lieutenant Jaklin shook his head as if coming out of a daydream and asked the Flennic, "Captain, what happened? How did I end up here? I was aboard that other ship-"

Flennic waved Jaklin silent. "Never mind that, Lieutenant," he said. "The problem has been dealt with as it is." _I hope_, Flennic thought. "Get back to your regular duties."

Jaklin saluted the captain and walked off the bridge. With that, Flennic turned back to the viewport and proceeded to watch the TIE fighter that Kad'ika would take to defeat the _Aay'han_.

Back aboard the _Aay'han_, Gotab noticed that the _Bloodfin II_'s turbolasers suddenly felt silent. He didn't go for activating the shield jammer, as he found it oddly suspicious. Then, as if in reaction to his thoughts, a single TIE fighter flew out of the Star Destroyer's launch bay and soared for Gotab's ship.

At first, Gotab wondered why the Star Destroyer's commander would send only one TIE against him. Then he sensed through the Force an all-too familiar presence piloting the fighter.

Kad'ika.

As soon as Gotab realized that his adoptive son was about to kill him using the TIE fighter, the latter ship began spewing red lasers at the _Aay'han_. Turning away from the Star Destroyer, as it was the less immediate threat and could be dealt with later, Gotab launched his ship into a dogfight against Kad'ika.

Even after all the hits and grazes it took from the _Bloodfin II_'s turbolasers, the_ Aay'han_ was still heavily shielded compared to the absence of shields in Kad'ika's TIE fighter, and was still loaded with missiles and torpedoes. But Kad'ika was the better pilot in the dogfight, and he also had the more maneuvrable ship. Though Gotab was more experienced in the Force, Kad'ika was tapping into its raw dark side that was giving him more energy and concentration than Gotab ever hoped to muster in this showdown.

Back aboard the _Bloodfin II_, Captain Flennic watched with great interest in the battle between the lone TIE and the larger ship.

He was tempted to order his crewmen to reactivate the turbolasers in the dogfight's general direction so that he could maybe destroy both ships. That way, he wouldn't have to deal with Kad'ika Skirata or risk execution by way of treason for betraying the Moff Council. In fact, a few nearby crewmen actually asked Flennic if they could fire upon both the _Aay'han_ and the TIE fighter (despite the fact that they'd be destroying one of their own ships, which, granted, was in a potential enemy's hands).

Every time Flennic was asked this, he simply shook his head, or said no, and told those crewmen to get back to their work.

The last time he looked out the viewport to watch the battle, he knew he made the right decision.

In the end, Kad'ika's TIE fighter was able to dodge and weave itself around all of the _Aay'han_'s defensive and invasive fire and nip and graze its shields down to absolute zero. He circled back around for an attack approach against the weakened _Aay'han_ and prepared to get in range in order to deliver the laser strikes that would end the lives of both the ship and Gotab. The latter fired out his last compliment of missiles and torpedoes, which Kad'ika easily avoided, and when Gotab tried to fire the lasers, he found that the discharger had just run empty. So he resorted to the one last method to spare his own life.

_Please, Kad'ika_, the younger man heard through the Force his adoptive father's voice. _Don't do this_. _You don't know what you're doing_.

_Yes, I do_, Kad'ika responded.

With that, he fired his lasers, and the _Aay'han_ was no more.

And as he sensed the old man perishing in a hot gout of flame, Kad'ika knew that Gotab was also gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Mandalore 9

As soon as Kad'ika parked the TIE fighter back into the _Bloodfin II_'s launch bay, he turned off its engines and hopped out. He walked all the way back unescorted to the Star Destroyer's bridge where Captain Flennic had been waiting for him.

"Nice going for the engines and thrusters on that ship once you had its shields down," Flennic commented.

Kad'ika almost asked when the captain was talking about. And then realization dawned upon him. In the midst of the dogfight with Gotab, he completely forgot that he had hit the engines and thrusters of the _Aay'han_, which did explain why the old man hadn't moved the ship out of harm's way before he died.

"Yes, I know," Kad'ika responded. "The old man was a sitting duck after that."

"Indeed," Flennic replied without further comment on the matter.

"So," Kad'ika said, "are you going to take me to Bastion now, or are you just going to stand there and tempt me to kill you?"

"There's no need for further threatening, Mr. Skirata," Flennic countered. "We'll take you there." He approached Kad'ika slowly until they were face-to-face. "But you'd better make sure that not one member of my crew, not even me, will suffer the consequences for your actions."

"You know, the longer we stay here, _not_ going to Bastion, the less tempted I am to holding up my end of the bargain," Kad'ika said.

With a few more seconds of angrily staring at Kad'ika, Flennic turned and ordered for the ship to enter hyperspace. Its destination: Bastion, the current location of the Moff Council.

A few days later, the _Bloodfin II_ dropped out of hyperspace and into the heart of the Imperial Remnant.

"So that's it then," Kad'ika said next to Flennic as they looked out of the bridge's viewport.

"Yes," Flennic curtly answered.

"I can take a shuttle down," Kad'ika said. "Can you give me clearance to meet with the Moffs?"

Flennic shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just a mere captain, I can't give you that level of clearance," he said.

"Do you know anyone who can?" Kad'ika asked.

"Even if I did, I doubt I'd be able to convince them that you can safely meet with the Moffs," Flennic said.

"Okay, then," Kad'ika said. "Then I guess I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way."

"Old-fashioned way?" Flennic asked.

Without answering the captain's question, Kad'ika instead asked, "Can you give me the exact location of where all the members of the Moff Council are right now?"

A nearby crew member interjected himself into the conversation. "Uh, sir," the crewman said, leading Kad'ika and Flennic's attention to him. "If I may?"

Kad'ika and Flennic looked at each other, looked back to the crewman, and they both nodded.

"I'm not sure if either of you know this yet, but the Council is due to meet with an emissary with the Galactic Alliance in Bastion's Capital Building in the next hour," the crewman said. "From there, you can assassinate them yourself." He sounded fairly neutral when he said that, as if he wasn't condemning the Empire's leaders to death.

Kad'ika turned away from the crewman and asked Flennic, "Where is Bastion's Capital Building exactly?"

"Don't worry about that, I'll have coordinates for the location input into your TIE fighter," Flennic said.

The way Flennic said that so plainly, Kad'ika had to search for the man through the Force to sense any duplicity. The captain didn't have any of that with him. Considering how far he just went into this, how far he's willing just to save his own skin, by betraying the Moffs to assassination, he really had no choice but to trust Kad'ika that he'd protect him and everyone else on the _Bloodfin II_ from certain execution.

So, with that, Kad'ika nodded to Flennic, who nodded back, and then the former left the bridge to return to the TIE fighter he used to kill Gotab with.

Less than an hour later, when Kad'ika was certain that the Moffs had begun their meeting, he revved up the TIE's engines, and, as Flennic promised, had received coordinates for the Capital Building. So he flew it out of the launch bay and headed for the planet. None of the defensive forces had ever commed him about why he alone was going through Bastion's atmosphere–apparently, Flennic had covered for him–and once he noticed that he was past the burning orange of the atmosphere, he found himself in the stratosphere.

Kad'ika then double-checked the coordinates for the Capital Building, which was just a couple of miles north of his current position, and he simply flew in that direction.

But when he was less than a mile away from the Capital Building, he noticed that there was yet another TIE fighter coming straight for him. As soon as the opposite fighter was in range, it fired on him. Taking evasive manuevers immediately, he moved out of the lasers' path and engaged the enemy TIE without hesitation in yet another dogfight.

However, unlike the dogfight he had with Gotab, this pilot was in a more maneuvrable ship, and was an all-around better flier than the old man ever was.

This dogfight lasted a couple of minutes before Kad'ika's opponent managed to get a hit off one of his TIE's solar panels. The panel flew off, and he found himself struggling to maintain a suitable landing that didn't end with a crash.

But crash Kad'ika did, but though the TIE exploded on an empty landing platform, he managed to eject himself in time. Sitting in the parachuting seat, he looked around to find his opponent coming right back for him. He looked back down to find that the seat was slowly headed back for the flaming debris of his destroyed TIE, which would burn him immediately if the opposite fighter didn't blow him to human chunks or if he didn't unstrap himself in time.

So, even though he was still at a height from the ground where it would kill him if he free-fell away from the TIE debris, Kad'ika unstrapped his seat harness and leapt for the incoming opposite fighter. His body skirted the top of its ball-like center, but he didn't allow himself to fly completely over, because as soon as he was over, he flipped and rolled in mid-air at the same so that he landed his gripping hands on one of the TIE's solar panels.

He then released one of his hands from the panel and grabbed out his lightsaber. He ignited its blade, and seeing that he was coming up to a raised and empty pedestrian walkway that he could jump to without killing himself, he cut the panel off. As soon as it was off, he then leapt and rolled across the walkway while the TIE fighter spiralled off into the distance, its dismembered panel dropping to the ground several hundred feet below.

Like Kad'ika, though, the pilot ejected him/herself as it plummeted to the streets below in a fiery inferno. Kad'ika turned away from the ejected pilot off in the distance and saw that just a few blocks away was Bastion's Capital Building. So he raced across one end of the walkway, entered the building it was connected to, travelled down to its ground floor via turbolift, left the building, and called for a hovertaxi to take him to a location as close to the Capital Building as possible.

A few minutes later, after he paid his fare, Kad'ika found himself just a block away from the Capital Building. As he began casually walking toward it, noting the armed guards protecting its entrance from intruders, Kad'ika then sensed a presence in the Force he hadn't felt since...

Since he duelled with Jaina Solo on Mandalore.

He turned around and found that the Jedi woman was standing a few meters away from him, and by her posture, she looked angry.

"Hello, Kad'ika," she said. "Long time, no see."

"Jaina Solo," he replied. "What're you doing here on Bastion? Aren't you supposed to be back on Coruscant or wherever doing something for the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi?"

"I'm doing that right now," Jaina replied. "I'm the emissary sent by the GA for a meeting with the Moffs in that building behind you." She indicated the Capital Building with a nod of her head behind Kad'ika. "And you must also be the sucker who has come here to kill the Moffs and who I fought in a TIE dogfight, which we both arguably lost, considering both of our fighters were destroyed by each other."

_Perfect_, Kad'ika thought. _Why did the emissary have to be a Jedi who'd be able to defend the Moffs?_

"Why do you care about what happens to the Moffs, Solo?" Kad'ika asked. "In fact, wouldn't you want them dead, considering they had sided with your little _shabuir_ of a brother?"

Jaina's nostrils flared at the mention of her evil dead brother Darth Caedus. "This has nothing to do with him," she argued. "The galaxy is healing itself, and the only way to do that is to make sure that every power in existence, including the Imperial Remnant, is there to unite with the Galactic Alliance. I don't much care for the Moffs' continued existence any more than you do, Kad'ika, but you have to understand-"

"No," Kad'ika interrupted abruptly. "Gotab didn't stop me. And none of the Imperial forces who tried to mess with me could stop me. So what makes you think you can?"

Jaina's eyes widened. "You killed Gotab?" she asked.

Kad'ika nodded without hesitation. "Yes. And I plan to do the same to you if you try to stop me."

"Then so be it," she said. And with that, she activated her lightsaber and charged as Kad'ika activated his own weapon.

As the duel commenced, pedestrians, drivers and their passengers all stopped what they were doing–in the case of the drivers, they pulled over–in order to watch the duel. Two minutes of Jaina and Kad'ika clashing sabers, along with various punches and kicks to advantageous open points, the authorities arrived on the scene. Jaina managed to kick Kad'ika in the chest and send him flying back against a parked speeder.

Jaina turned to the approaching authorities and said, "Everyone, back! He's too dangerous to be taken like this!"

In a fraction of a second, Jaina sensed Kad'ika up on his feet and charging behind her. She instantly spun around and continued striking each others' blades. The authorities decided to heed Jaina's advice and started to back people away out of the street so that they can be safe elsewhere from the fight.

Jaina and Kad'ika's fight continued for a few minutes longer, both getting more battered, bruised, and bloodied by the punches and hits they brought each other, until Kad'ika made a fatal mistake when he jumped up and tried to kick both feet into Jaina's face.

But the latter managed to duck beneath the double-blow and she cut off both of Kad'ika's legs by the knee joints.

He fell to the ground on his back screaming in agony. By then, his lightsaber had already slipped from his grip. Jaina just looked down upon him with pity.

Kad'ika then turned on his back and began crawling, legless, towards the Capital Building. "I... have got to... make it... for... Mandalore!"

"You know who you remind me of, Kad'ika?" Jaina asked.

Kad'ika turned on his back and Jaina said, "My brother."

Seething in hatred, he reached out and his lightsaber flew into his grip thanks to the Force. But once it was activated, Jaina prevented him from using it by stabbing her blade into his heart.

Kad'ika looked up and down from Jaina to the blade in his chest in both agony and horror. Jaina stared back at him in cold objectivity.

Just when she ended Darth Caedus's life so many months before.

With that, Kad'ika, eyes still open, titled his head back and died.

Jaina extinguished the blade of her lightsaber and commed the authorities. They arrived, picking up Kad'ika's corpse and his dismembered legs. The ambulance that was doing this asked Jaina if they could treat her for her wounds, to which she complied. It wasn't long after they cleaned and patched her up that they then drove Kad'ika off to the local morgue, and Jaina walked back to the Capital Building to continue her meeting with Jag and the Moffs as if nothing happened.

Up in Bastion's orbit, Captain Flennic was confronted by Admiral Draavis Piett on the _Bloodfin II_'s bridge. Without speaking a word to Flennic himself, Piett ordered his men to arrest him and every other crew member on the bridge. Once Flennic was cuffed, Piett told him, "Guess what's going to happen to you when you brought that Jedi to try to kill the Moffs, Flennic."

Flennic didn't even bother trying to correct Piett, as he was too stunned to realize that he had been failed by a man he thought he was invincible, and now he was going to pay with his life and all the other lives of his crew.

He should have just let Skirata kill him.

~o~

Later, on the other side of the galaxy, its greatest bounty hunter Boba Fett, in his ship the _Slave I_, watched the news of Venku "Kad'ika" Skirata's failed attempt to try to assassinate the entire Moff Council on Bastion; a failure that resulted in his death by Jaina Solo.

A few months earlier, after Fett got the news that Mandalore had been poisoned to specifically target his DNA and everyone else who shared that DNA, he'd wanted to go after the Moffs in revenge. Just like when he wanted to go after Jacen Solo after he learned that he killed his daughter, Ailyn. After Mirta also received mention of what Mandalore would do to her if she ever returned, she asked him why they didn't go after the Moffs after all.

Because, he had told, as much as he hated to admit it, it would be too much for him. If he went after the Moffs, whether he failed or succeeded in killing them, the Imperial Remnant, perhaps even with the help of Daala in the Galactic Alliance, will turn on every other Mando since he's their all-around leader. Fett didn't want to do that, so he had no choice but to do nothing.

Mirta reacted by saying that they couldn't just do nothing. He said that's all they could do. Because this was his own punishment for not killing Jacen Solo himself as soon as he learned that he murdered Ailyn. He warned Mirta from doing it, or even her husband Ghes Orade, because it would lead back to him, and thus, all Mandos would be targeted by the Remnant and the GA–under Daala's rule, of course.

With that, Fett turned off the holonews and slumped back in depression, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to kill the Moffs even if he tried.

The End.


End file.
